LAUDERDALE TELLS CODE ENFORCERS TO LIGHTEN UP

- Even as city officials bolster an aggressive code enforcement effort with more rules and employees, they're ordering the department to quit harassing residents over minutiae and start dealing with trash, blight and hazards.

"Every day I get a call from someone who feels the code Gestapo has them between their fingers," said Commissioner Tim Smith.

And Mayor Jim Naugle said, "They'll drive by flagrant violations and nitpick on some technical violation of someone putting in an air conditioner without a permit."

City officials have said they want a vigilant code team. But they want the attention focused on things that make the city ugly or dangerous, like junk or exposed wires.

Two weeks ago, commissioners added four supervisors to the code department and gave community inspections director Lori Milano a raise, from up to $63,564, to up to $81,328.

On Tuesday, commissioners moved forward with rules that would outlaw things like using a fence instead of a clothesline to hang wet towels. They also plan to enact a two-year limit on boarded-up buildings and will quicken the time between citing an owner for trash and having it cleaned up.

Commissioner Jack Latona said he got a call from a man who was ordered to build a wall between two properties, though he owns them. But efforts to get the city to clean up even its own property get a slow response, Latona said.

As they add bulk to an effort that already includes 16 code officers and an armed code team for serious offenders, commissioners reminded Milano what citizens' priorities are -- and aren't.

Residents "don't want us to creep into their backyards and private lives and electrical rooms," Smith said.

"It's real simple stuff [they want]. It's garbage piles, overturned garbage on city property and in city swales. That's what infuriates the citizenry, not whether you have the right size screws in your window frame."

Milano defended her department, saying the officers follow the priorities set by commissioners.

Code enforcement, and accusations it's too strict, too lax or focusing on the wrong things, will always be the object of someone's discontent, she said.

But she rejected the idea that code enforcement is abused by people with vendettas.

"That's very rare," Milano said. "We never single folks out."

Naugle and Smith have been cited for code violations at their rental properties. Both said they could trace the trail to political enemies.

The city tried to reduce what Naugle calls "code terrorism" by requiring callers to give their name, which becomes public record.

That doesn't keep people from using the code as a weapon. Resident Charles Woehler said he called code enforcement on a neighbor, city landscape architect Michael Fay. Woehler said he thought Fay was flouting the rules about getting permits before enclosing a garage.

"Why did I turn Mr. Fay in? It was my way of striking back at him," he said. "There's a need for the rules and regulations. If someone blatantly violates them, I feel action should be taken."

But Woehler didn't like it when Fay moved out two weeks ago and code enforcement showed up the next workday based on Woehler's complaints. Fay could not be reached for comment.

Resident Maria Vaca said her bout with code enforcement made her ill, and now the city wants her to pay $600 for fighting the citations she got on her Davie Road rental home.

"They abuse their authority and misinterpret the intent of the code," said Vaca, who was cited for making improvements without pulling a permit. "I'm not sleeping. I'm not eating. It has changed me a good deal."

The end of the road for longtime violators is the demolition line, and city officials take that route often. At the last commission meeting 11 homes or buildings were served up for demolition, including one that a resident pleaded to save so he could buy it and fix it.

But Commissioner Carlton Moore said that building and another on the list had been eyesores for years, much to his constituents' disgust.